Runner's World: When did you start running?Karl Ravech: In May of 1993, I had managed to do well professionally but on a personal level I had put on a significant amount of weight. I was generally 140, 150 pounds as kid growing up. By November of 1998, which was five years after I took the job at ESPN, I had managed to get up to a whopping 175. I wasn't doing anything to stay in any particular shape at that point. I wasn't running. I was playing pick-up games with ESPN friends—that's what I was doing to stay in shape.

My wife had nagged me to get into running. I was always of the mind that if I was an athlete, I didn't need to go do that stuff. I was in good enough shape so that stuff was not for me. Then in November of 1998, following the World Series, I came home and suffered a heart attack at the age of 33. That ultimately led me to the running revolution in my life. That changed everything.

I was playing basketball and a friend of mine drove me to the hospital because I didn't believe it was a heart attack. I just thought it was indigestion or something else. Pain in the chest. Pain in the arm. They gave me an angioplasty and told me I was having a heart attack. They did a great job and within a couple of days I was back at home and within a couple of weeks I was walking.

Over the past 10 years, I became addicted to and married to running and exercising. I started out by walking a mile. Within a month I was beginning to realize the benefits of running and exercise and became addicted to that runner's high that people talk about, which I previously could never associate with. Before my high came from scoring goals on a soccer field or making a good pass on a basketball court. That was my athletic high. It had nothing to do with running or being in great shape. That led to a real joy of running. Running outside, running on treadmills, running anywhere I could run.

Have you done races?My wife and I both ran a half marathon a couple of years later and did quite well. Running 13 miles in an hour and 37 minutes. She had always been in shape and I had become a runner. So I could participate with her. We each finished in an hour and 37 minutes. We had a pretty good clip. I think we were a 7:30 mile. We were bussing along.

What kind of weight have you since lost?From 1998 to 2002, I dropped all sorts of weight. People were looking at me like I was ill, like I was sick, like something was wrong with me—all because I was getting back in shape. In fact, I was actually getting healthier than I had been in a long, long time.

What's your normal running routine?I generally run between four to five miles a day.

Do you usually run inside or outside?Obviously in the winter here in Connecticut, it's on a treadmill. To be honest, I find treadmills are a little more forgiving, believe it or not, on my knees than running on cement. I know a lot of people run on either grass or paths. I am afraid that because my knee has no ACL or MCL stability that I'd step in a hole and blow it open. I've run outside on the street but if I'm going to run on a dirt path, I'm afraid there would be a misstep and the knee would go. I live everyday thanking God that I still have a knee that allows me to run because it's something I never want to give up.

Do you still run with your wife?When she I have the same schedule, we'll go out on a path and run.

Have you run any more races?She's done a couple more half marathons. Because of my knee I don't think I could do 13 miles anymore. I don't push it. I have no problem running 4 or 5 miles a day. I still do the 7:25, 7:30 mile. The speed hasn't changed. That runner's high people talk about I still get it.

Do you run in the morning or night?I get up with my wife and two boys, age 13 and 8, and once they're off to school I go to the gym. I am at the gym at around 8:40 every morning and I usually run for 30 minutes or 40 minutes depending on the mood I'm in. I'll mix in elliptical. I'll mix in rowing. Then I usually lift weights for an hour to an hour and a half. The great part of the job is that it allows me to exercise during the day when most people are at work. And I clearly have no excuse not to be in decent shape because I do have the time to do it. I take full advantage of it.Has running helped your heart condition?My cardiologist, who is wonderful, has laid the claim at my feet that he never expects to see me again because of a heart-related incident. All the training that has occurred subsequently has put me, in his opinion, in the elite athlete class. That the heart is in such great shape he doesn't anticipate seeing me again. I will say this, for somebody who's had a heart attack, it's wonderful to be in the shape I'm in and great to hear from people that you look fit, and it's encouraging to hear from doctors that you're never expected to be seen again. But it's not like a pulled calf muscle or a broken ankle. No one knows what's really going on inside there. So there's a level of fear that propels you to continue to run and exercise as well.

It must have been a pretty scary experience?It's eye opening. It's like anything that people don't expect to happen. When it happens, you sit there and say to yourself, I can't believe it happened to me. It shakes you up. You have two ways to go: you either do everything you can to make sure it doesn't happen again or you ignore it and, God forbid, it happens a second time.

Do heart attacks run in your family?My grandfather had several of them beginning at a fairly young age but with the exception of him there's no evidence of heart disease in the family. Most people contribute it to genetics, others contribute it to stress, lack of sleep. The work hours are such that I'm home at 1 a.m. and up at 6 o'clock, 6:30, to be with the kids. I've also learned the beauty of an afternoon nap, if necessary.

How did your colleagues at ESPN take your heart attack?I think it probably scared a lot of people. I've had many people come up to me and say they're inspired in some way by what happened to me. Most of the people there, because they're on television, they take care of themselves because it's a visual medium and you need to be in some ways appealing to the audience. Most of them are in decent shape. Clearly it was a wake-up call that was heard around the ESPN campus.

Do your colleagues tease you for your workout routine or for being so health conscious?I was 35 pounds heavier then than I am now. I've heard several people say I didn't even recognize you. That is the greatest reference to what I once looked like versus now. I think people are conditioned to what I look like now. They don't necessarily remember. I do carry my ABC/ESPN ID in my wallet with me as motivation because that was taken literally in 1998, the year of the heart attack. And it's almost an unfamiliar face I'm looking at. I carry it with me in my wallet all the time. It's not as if I need a reminder, because a heart attack is a great reminder, but I do take it out every now and then and I can't believe that was me. My 8-year-old son, who is unedited because he's 8, looked at it and said, "Oh my, God, you were fat."

Is there a big running culture at ESPN?ESPN is a health conscious company. There's no question about it. There's a full gym there. Because most of the people there were involved with sports at some level they generally take good care of themselves. There really is a high percentage of people that are in good to very good shape.

Is hard to get in the running with your hectic schedule?It's never been ... I argue with my 13-year-old all the time. He doesn't really have a great penchant for going to school. He doesn't like it. I've always argued with him about the fact that, look it's not as if laying in bed or sleeping will cause school to go away. You have to get up and you may as well embrace it.

I have the same philosophy about running. I do embrace it. I do look forward to it. If I were to get four or five hours sleep, I'm still getting up to exercise because I know later in the day I could probably take a nap. If I miss a day of exercise, I miss it begrudgingly.

I know a lot of GMs and agents run on hotel treadmills. Do you ever get any info from them while you're working out?I've definitely run next to executives for either teams or Major League Baseball and tried in the moment of sweat and weakness to get some information out of them. They generally have their wits about them. They're not as forthcoming as you would hope they would be, like 'Ouch, I don't know if I can go any more. Yes, we're about to trade this guy. Oh, I need some water.' I haven't had that fall in my lap yet.

In your mind who is the best baseball runner?I'm a big fan of the guys that are playing today. Jimmy Rollins, who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies, is a stolen base waiting to happen. Curtis Granderson of the Detroit Tigers is another one of those guys who could steal 30 bases in a season if he wants to.Is there way you celebrate after a long run?Running allows me to eat things that I want to eat. Not things that are bad for me per se but things I want to eat. I am not afraid of putting on a great deal of weight, at least at this age with all the exercise I do. I am not one of those to just eat rice cakes and arugula salad all the time. I do eat chicken, I eat soup, I eat crackers. I don't feel guilty about going to a restaurant and ordering something.

Is there anything in your gym bag that would surprise people?No, I couldn't be more basic. Literally I brush my teeth, brush my hair in the morning. Put on my sneakers, shirt and shorts. I don't pay much attention to appearance at the gym. I'm a fan of the gym. You can go there and be yourself. I'm a no frills guy.

Is there one part of running that's hard?I don't think there's one part that is hard. The last half a mile or 500 yards was the most difficult. You're near the end yet you can't get there. You're not there yet. That's when I feel it. If I was doing 5 miles it occurs at 4.8. I'm almost there but I got to do the last two. I start thinking about the finish line. As opposed to at mile 2 you're not thinking about the [finish line]. I think the end of the run, believe it or not, is the time when I recognize that I'm running opposed to in the middle or the beginning ... I have a finish line in mind. I am going to accomplish that and that's it. Whatever it is.

Is there a comparison between baseball and running?The comparison is that baseball is a long season, a marathon, it's not a sprint. That's way I look at life now. You just need to be consistently solid over a long period of time and you'll end up winning the game. In the case of baseball winning the World Series. I am in this for the long haul. That's how I look at it. There are no miracles. It's not something you can cure overnight as far as heart disease or obesity.

What advice would you give other runners?My advice to people who ask about running or how the heck do you do it is to always start slow. Don't set goals in the beginning. And give it time. Eventually if you have the patience to persevere, barring injury, you'll fall in love with it. It really is a love affair you have with it.